on ATTITUDES and JOB SATISFACTION

AN INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR By: Stephen Robbins & Timothy Judge

Prepared by: GREGAR DONAVEN E. VALDEHUEZA, MBA Lourdes College Instructor

Learning Objectives:
  

Contrast the three components of an attitude Identify the role consistency plays in attitudes Summarize the relationship between attitudes and behavior Discuss similarities and differences between job satisfaction and the other job attitudes discussed Summarize the main causes of job satisfaction Identify four employee responses to dissatisfaction

ATTITUDES
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evaluative statements (either favorable or unfavorable) concerning objects, people, or events. reflect how one feels about something. ex: I like my job.

Six questions that will help understand attitude:

     

What are the main components of attitudes? How consistent are attitudes? Does behavior always follow after attitudes? What are the major job attitudes? How are employee attitudes measured? What is the importance of attitudes to workplace diversity?

the components of attitudes

Cognitive = evaluation My superior gave a promotion to a coworker who deserved it less than me. My supervisor is unfair.

Affective = feeling I dislike my supervisor!

Negative attitude toward supervisor

Behavioral = action Im looking for other work; Ive complained about my supervisor to anyone who would listen.

Cognitive component of an attitude

The opinion or belief segment of an attitude

Affective component of an attitude

The emotional or feeling segment of an attitude

Behavioral component of an attitude

An intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something

Six questions that will help understand attitude:

     

What are the main components of attitudes? How consistent are attitudes? Does behavior always follow after attitudes? What are the major job attitudes? How are employee attitudes measured? What is the importance of attitudes to workplace diversity?

Research has generally concluded that people seek consistency among their attitudes and between their attitudes and their behavior. This means that individuals seek to reconcile divergent attitudes and align their attitudes and behavior so they appear rational and consistent. ex: a certain college girl believes that sororities are good and that pledging a sorority is important. If she fails to make a sorority, however, she may say, I recognized that sorority life isnt all good anyway. When there is inconsistency, forces are initiated to return the individual to an equilibrium state in which attitudes and behavior are again consistent. This can be done by altering either the attitudes or the behavior, or by developing a rationalization for the discrepancy.

Cognitive Dissonance (Leon Festinger)

Any incompatibility between two or more attitudes or between behavior and attitudes.

Determinants in coping dissonance proposed by Festinger:

1. Importance of the elements creating the dissonance. 2. Influence the individual believes he/she has over the elements. 3. Rewards that may be involved in dissonance.

Six questions that will help understand attitude:

     

What are the main components of attitudes? How consistent are attitudes? Does behavior always follow after attitudes? What are the major job attitudes? How are employee attitudes measured? What is the importance of attitudes to workplace diversity?

Early research on attitudes assumed that they were causally related to behavior; that is, the attitudes that people hold determine what they do.

However, in the late 1960s, this assumed relationship between attitudes and behavior was challenged by a review of the research. Based on an evaluation of a number of studies that investigated the attitudeattitude-behavior relationship, the reviewer concluded that attitudes were unrelated to behavior or, at best, only slightly related.

More recent research has demonstrated that attitudes significantly predict future behavior and confirmed Festingers original belief that the relationship can be enhanced by taking moderating variables into account.

moderating variables
The most powerful moderators of the attitudeattitude-behavior relationship have been found to be:


 

Importance of the attitude (fundamental values, self-interest, identification with the selfindividuals/groups that a person values) Its specificity Its accessibility Social pressures Direct experience

whether there exist:

 

selfself-perception theory
- attitudes are used after the fact to make sense out of an action that has already occurred.
SelfSelf-perception argues that attitudes are used after the fact to make sense out of an action that has already occurred rather than as devices that precede and guide action.

Six questions that will help understand attitude:

     

What are the main components of attitudes? How consistent are attitudes? Does behavior always follow after attitudes? What are the major job attitudes? How are employee attitudes measured? What is the importance of attitudes to workplace diversity?

1.

Job satisfaction
A positive feeling about ones job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics.

2.

Job involvement
The degree to which a person identifies with a job, actively participates in it, and considers performance important to selfselfworth. Closely related concept is psychological empowerment which is employees belief in the degree to which they impact their work environment, their competence, the meaningfulness of their job, and the perceived autonomy in their work.

3.

Organizational commitment
The degree to which an employee identifies with a particular organization and its goals and wishes to maintain membership in the organization.

Three separate dimensions:



Affective commitment an emotional attachment to the organization and a belief in its values. Continuance commitment the perceived economic value of remaining with an organization compared to leaving it. Normative commitment an obligation to remain with the organization for moral or ethical reasons.

Other job attitudes:

1.

Perceived Organizational Support (POS) the degree to which employees believe the organization values their contribution and cares about their wellwellbeing. Employee engagement an individuals involvement with, satisfaction with, and enthusiasm for the work they do.

2.

Six questions that will help understand attitude:

     

What are the main components of attitudes? How consistent are attitudes? Does behavior always follow after attitudes? What are the major job attitudes? How are employee attitudes measured? What is the importance of attitudes to workplace diversity?

attitude surveys
-

Eliciting responses from employees through questionnaires on how they feel about their jobs, work groups, supervisors, and the organization.

employee behaviors are based on perceptions, not reality.

Six questions that will help understand attitude:

     

What are the main components of attitudes? How consistent are attitudes? Does behavior always follow after attitudes? What are the major job attitudes? How are employee attitudes measured? What is the importance of attitudes to workplace diversity?

Diversity Programs
Almost all include a self-evaluation selfphase
People are pressed to examine themselves and to confront ethic and cultural stereotypes they might hold.

Participants typically take part in group discussions or panels with representatives from diverse groups Arranging for people to do volunteer work in community or social service centers
In order to meet face to face with individuals and groups from diverse backgrounds and using exercises that let participants feel what its like to be different.

JOB SATISFACTION
A positive feeling about ones job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics.

measuring job satisfaction

a persons job is more than just the obvious activities of shuffling papers, writing programming code, waiting on customers, or driving a truck. Jobs require interaction with coworkers and bosses, following organizational rules and policies, meeting performance standards, living with working conditions that are often less than ideal, and the like.

Single global rating



Is a method nothing more than asking individuals to respond to one question, such as All things considered, how satisfied are you with your job? More sophisticated method. It identifies key elements in a job and asks for the employees feelings about each. Typical factors that would be included are the nature of the work, supervision, present pay, promotion opportunities, and relations with coworkers.

Summation of job facets



how satisfied are people in their jobs?

people are on average satisfied with their jobs overall, with the work itself, and with their supervisors and coworkers. However, they tend to be less satisfied with their pay and with promotion opportunities.

what causes job satisfaction?

the major job satisfaction facets (work itself, pay, advancement opportunities, supervision, coworkers), enjoying the work itself is almost always the facet most strongly correlated with high levels of overall job satisfaction.

how about pay?

people who are poor or who live in poor countries, pay does correlate with job satisfaction and with overall happiness. But once an individual reaches a level of comfortable living, the relationship virtually disappears.
What motivates us is not necessarily the same as what makes us happy.

how about personality?

personality plays a role. Research has shown that people who have a negative personality are usually less satisfied with their jobs.

the impact of dissatisfied and satisfied employees on the workplace



Exit


Dissatisfaction expressed through behavior directed toward leaving the organization. Dissatisfaction expressed through active and constructive attempts to improve conditions. Dissatisfaction expressed by passively waiting for conditions to improve. Dissatisfaction expressed through allowing conditions to worsen.

Voice


Loyalty


Neglect


Exit and neglect behaviors encompass our performance variables (productivity, absenteeism, and turnover). Voice and loyalty are constructive behaviors that allow individuals to tolerate unpleasant situations or to revive satisfactory working conditions.

responses to job dissatisfaction

Active

EXIT

VOICE

Destructive

Constructive

NEGLECT

LOYALTY

Passive

job satisfaction & job performance

When satisfaction and productivity data are gathered for the organization as a whole, we find that organizations with more satisfied employees tend to be more effective than organizations with fewer satisfied employees.

job satisfaction & organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)

Satisfied employees would seem more likely to talk positively about the organization, help others, and go beyond the normal expectations in their job. More recent evidence however, suggests that satisfaction influences OCB, but through perceptions of fairness.

job satisfaction & customer satisfaction

The evidence indicates that satisfied employees increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. Dissatisfied customers can increase an employees job dissatisfaction.

job satisfaction & absenteeism

A consistent negative relationship between satisfaction and absenteeism, but the correlation is moderate to weak.

job satisfaction & turnover

Satisfaction is also negatively related to turnover, but the correlation is stronger than what we found for absenteeism. Evidence indicates that an important moderator of the satisfaction-turnover relationship is the satisfactionemployees level of performance. Level of satisfaction is less important in predicting turnover for superior performers.

job satisfaction & workplace deviance

Job dissatisfaction predicts a lot of specific behaviors, including unionization attempts, substance abuse, stealing at work, undue socializing, and tardiness. If employers want to control the undesirable consequences of job dissatisfaction, they had best attack the source of the problem dissatisfaction rather than trying to control the different responses.

- THE END any clarifications? clarifications?